Supertankers to the coast: Canada approves building controversial pipeline

Kitimat: This town in northern British Columbia is the terminus for a $7.9 billion oil pipeline project just approved by the Canadian government. It sits at the head of a long, narrow fjord. Kitimat is an industrial town, home to an aluminum smelter. But, influenced by fears of a major oil spill, it voted against the pipeline in a referendum this spring.

The Canadian government on Tuesday gave a green light to construction of a pipeline that would carry 525,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta’s tar sands to a British Columbia fjord, where it would load onto supertankers and be shipped to Asia.

But the controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline faces concerted opposition from aboriginal Canadians, environmentalists and parties challenging Prime Minister Stephen Harper in next year’s Canadian election. The British Columbia government says there is “a lot of work to do” before it issues permits for the $7.9 billion project.

The pipeline’s destination is Kitimat on the north coast of B.C. Supertankers would have to traverse the long, narrow Douglas Channel. They would also sail through often-wild waters of Hecate Strait between the Queen Charlotte Islands Islands and the B.C. mainland.

Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper: “Certain people in the United States would like to see Canada be one giant park.”

About 220 tankers a year would make the journey to Kitimat. Streams in the area are spawning grounds to 5,000 salmon populations. Hecate Strait is used as a migration route for many of the major salmon runs of the West Coast.

The residents of Kitimat have already voted against the pipeline in a referendum. Opponents are seeking to organize a province-wide vote in British Columbia. Twenty-one B.C. members of Canada’s House of Commons from Harper’s ruling Conservative Party will face voters in next year’s election.

Opposition Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau argued that a tanker spill “would be catastrophic for B.C.’s pristine north coast and its economy.” The Liberal leader’s father, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, banned supertankers from Canada’s West Coast waters more than 40 years ago.

“A large spill would cost $10 billion to clean up and would wipe out 4,000 full-time B.C. jobs. Will the prime minister do the right thing and say no to the Northern Gateway Pipeline?” Trudeau asked Harper in the House of Commons, just before the pro-pipeline decision was announced.

“We know very well the leader of the Liberal Party and his party’s deep hostility to Canada’s energy sector,” Harper shot back.

Harper is set on making Canada a global petro power. Achieving that goal means getting tar sands oil from northern Alberta, where a vast zone of environmental destruction has been created, to global markets.

The Keystone XL Pipeline, which would carry Alberta oil to the U.S. Gulf Coast, has run into concerted opposition from those who fear its impact on climate change. The Obama administration has repeatedly delayed approval.

Harper has fumed. The Canadian government has lobbied intensively in the U.S. for Keystone XL. In a CBC interview, as pipeline opposition was growing, the prime minister said: “Certain people in the United States would like to see Canada be one giant park for the northern half of North America.”

The vast Alberta tar stands project: The government of Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants to ship its oil by pipeline to the West Coast of British Columbia, for export to Asia. Fearing an oil spill, environmentalists, aboriginal First Nations and communities along the route oppose project. (Getty Images)

The Canadian government has plotted an alternative to Keystone XL, namely transporting Alberta oil to the West Coast and shipping it to Asia.

The Harper government is also considering a plan to triple the capacity of the TransMountain Pipeline, which transports oil from Alberta to the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby. It, too, would have a capacity of greater than 500,000 barrels a day — and mean 34 oil tankers a month traversing Haro Strait between the San Juan Islands and Vancouver Island.

The official announcement Tuesday said that Enbridge Inc., the pipeline’s builder, will have to meet conditions set down by the National Energy Board of Canada, and negotiate with First Nations (native) peoples.

“Moving forward, the proponent (Enbridge) must demonstrate to the independent regulatory National Energy Board how it will meet the 209 conditions. It will also have to apply for regulatory permits and authorization from federal and provincial governments,” said Greg Rickford, Canada’s minister of natural resources.

British Columbia Premier Christy Clark: She will have a major voice in whether the controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline is built.

“The proponent clearly has more work to do in order to fulfill the public commitment it has made to engage with aboriginal groups and communities along the coast.”

But engaging likely will do Enbridge no good. A statement by First Nations groups, from across British Columbia and Canada, said they will go to court to stop the pipeline.

“Enbridge’s Northern Gateway tanker and pipeline project exposes all communities from Alberta to the Pacific Coast to the undeniable fish of pipeline and supertanker oil spills,” said the statement. The project poses an “unacceptable” risk to the health, safety, environment and livelihoods of all who live on its path, the native groups added.

Speaking for the environmental community, Chris Genovali of the Raincoast Conservation Foundation argued: “Salmon are the very soul of British Columbia and the lifeblood of our coastal ecosystem. The value of salmon in the ecological and human communities that they support is immense.”

The Canadian system of government has none of the often-paralyzing division of powers seen in its American counterpart.

The Conservative Party, led by Harper, has a majority of seats in the House of Commons. It is a tightly disciplined majority that Harper has ruled without challenge for eight years. The prime minister is from Alberta, the oil-producing province often dubbed the Texas of Canada.

But Canada’s courts have sustained legal challenges by First Nations groups to the arbitrary exercise of power by federal and provincial governments.

“Regardless of this decision, the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline will never be built, because First Nations and others in British Columbia won’t allow it, and they have the legal power to prevent it,” said Art Sterrit of Coastal First Nation.

Whatever the outcome, the Great White North is in for the mother of all environmental battles.

“We’re talking about a severe threat to the social order, social peace, not only in British Columbia but in Canada, if Mr. Harper continues to ignore science, continues to ignore First Nations,” Thomas Mulcair, leader of the other opposition party, the New Democrats, said in parliament.